The effectiveness of booster seat laws for reducing deaths, especially for 6- and 7-year-olds, is clearly shown in a new study by researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital. This study is an essential resource for advocates engaged in efforts to amend their state’s child occupant protection laws.

With a general shift in legislative focus to anti-texting laws, and the discontinuation of federal incentives, law upgrades to close significant gaps that remain in adult and child occupant protection laws have slowed significantly.

A study by The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and State Farm insurance shows that teens who drive in states with primary seat belt law enforcement are more likely to buckle up than those in states with secondary enforcement.* It also found that teens buckle up more often while driving (82 percent) than as passengers (69 percent).

A new analysis by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) associates expanded CR laws with a 5 percent injury rate reduction and a 17 percent fatal and incapacitating injury rate reduction. Children covered by the enhanced laws were nearly three times more likely to be in CRs (including boosters) and 6 percent more likely to ride in a rear seating position.

Booster seats and laws requiring their use are in the top tier of prevention interventions, since both offer net cost savings. A recent economical analysis by Ted Miller, PhD, et al, looked at their societal return on investment by comparing the direct costs of using and mandating booster seats with the savings of injuries prevented or mitigated.